To be fair, both CC and FFVIII had plot twists that did not make a lot of sense compared to how the game was going before that.

This is actually a fantastic questions. In the end I would probably give it to FFVIII since I had more fun in it overall. CC had the fun aspect of character collecting and trying to get everyone's best weapon and element, but most of the characters were not that useful anyway. FFVIII had some more variety in the side content with acquiring the higher tier GFs and Triple Triad. The music and plot I would rate about the same.